Regina schools falling behind others across Sask.

Regina schools falling behind others across Sask.

A new study on how well Saskatchewan students are performing in the classroom shows rural communities are leading the way.

The top nine schools are all in smaller communities, with Saskatoon’s ECF Pavillion Secondaire the only big city school cracking the top ten.

“There may be some cultural differences in terms of the way the school is run,” said David Seymour with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy. “The relationship between the principals and the teachers, the students in the community.”

The top performing school in Regina is Ecole Monseigneur de Laval, which came in at number 47. Martin Collegiate ranked 173, just five places from the bottom. Thom Collegiate came in at 169.

The two main school boards in Regina have both seen the report, and say it will be a part of the conversation in how to make sure students all across the province are given the greatest possible opportunity to succeed.

“For us it simply is info that we’ll take and use in our annual improvement process,” said Don Hoium, Director of Education with the Regina Public School Division.

“We like to take the info of student achievement and engagement and understand how we are progressing and how we need to improve,” added Rob Currie, who holds the same position with the Regina Catholic School Division.

The study took in to account stats that included grades, student attendance and graduation rates.